The Things That Keep The Malays Down, Things That Keep Malaysians Down

What are "The Things That Keep The Malays Down, Things That Keep Malaysians Down"? It is all connected to FREEDOM.  I did mention the other day that the single biggest factor that is needed to progress a society is freedom. If you have freedom, you will progress. If you do not have freedom you will become poor, ignorant, slavish, and all the other bad things. 

The worst kind of slavery (the opposite to being free) is the slavery that is self imposed. Especially the self imposed slavery of the mind. 

The other day one commentator argued that freedom is subject to respecting the views of the majority and other such crap. I delete such comments. Sadly there are still  unbelievably stupid comments like those. 

Here at OutSyed The Box I promote freedom, especially freedom of speech and more important than that freedom of thought. Nothing less. No ifs, buts, subject to etc.  

(Of course you should not shout Fire! in a crowded cinema theatre, unless there really is a fire. Neither should your grandma walk naked down Bukit Bintang. But you should never prevent people from talking about shouting Fire! in a cinema or prevent your grandma from talking about walking naked down Bukit Bintang.)    

Here is an article by Ambassador Datuk Dennis Ignatius. Its about the monarchy. I have truncated it. You can read the full piece here at FMT.  Its just some appetiser for my thoughts about freedom.  Do read my comments :

By Dennis Ignatius

constitutional monarchy again in headlines, sensitive subject

led to police investigations, allegations of stirring up anti-monarch sentiment 

accusations of wanting to abolish monarchy

Malaysia not Thailand where all criticism of monarch forbidden 

neither like Britain where everyone free to say what they want about monarchy

need to find right balance within context of our constitution 

some royals crossed line by inveighing against Dr M

Reaction was spontaneous, immediate

rakyat felt unconstitutional for royals to express political preference

Dr M champion against corrupt and abusive govt 

loathe to see anyone undermine him

withdrawal of royal awards to Dr M did not sit well with people

• much dismay and angst - appointment of prime minister following elections
• joy marred by the way Dr M treated, waited hours to be confirmed as PM
• humiliating to see him, tired, weary, being kept waiting for hours 
• nation felt his humiliation and took it very personally

same can be said of appointment of Attorney-General

Constitution is clear Agong acts on advice of PM 

PM's appointments being unconstitutionally thwarted

growing involvement of royals in business

Dr M said recently, royals in business creates all sorts of problems 

puts ordinary companies at disadvantage 

Royal expenditures also come under scrutiny 

In UK, Queen’s expenditure published since 2002 

monarchy is publicly accountable

no reason why it shouldn’t be done here as well

all public expenditures should be debated and made public

It is not sedition but good governance

Examining monarchy in context of constitution not to be viewed with alarm

GE14 about restoring constitutional balance and order

My comments :  These are just some specific examples of what has happened in our country over the past few weeks.  

Again the larger issue behind this is FREEDOM. 

This is 21st century Malaysia. 

Are we really a free people? 

Are we free to discuss these things freely and openly?  

If not why not? 

Is it because we are still an immature and childish society? 

Which cannot be trusted to discuss things or hear others discussing things? 

Kadir Jasin wrote about the monarchs. And what happened? 

Some people went and made Police reports against him. 

Worse, the Police began to investigate Kadir Jasin for "sedition".  

Even more worse, the Police acted according to the law. 

There are laws that prevent discussion. 

Then some others waded into the puddle. 

They hiked up their pants and put on their wading boots.

They said one must not make insulting remarks. 

So insults should be criminalised? 

Do you agree dear reader?

That insults should be criminalised.

So dear blog reader, say someone called you a 'stupid, good for nothing bastard', that would be an insult, right?  So should the person who threw such an insult at you be arrested and maybe jailed? Because he insulted you.

Or is this a ridiculous suggestion?  

Because you, my dear reader, are just an everyday stupid, good for nothing, off the street ordinary rakyat.   

Who gives a shit about you - if someone insults you verbally, insults you in writing, or insults you by sending nasty comments into this blog etc? 

You are just a sub human.  

An "untermenschen" in Adolph Hitler's Nazi parlance. 

Who cares about you? 

Plus, if throwing insults were made a crime, the jails will be full of your grandmother and possibly grandpa too. 

Suppose you are living off other peoples' money and one day someone says "you are living off other peoples' money"  would that be deemed a criminal offence? Even if it is a true statement? 

So this idea of criminalising insults is a non starter. 

Your grandma will go to jail. Believe me. 

Words cannot harm anyone. 

Insults are usually words. 

Insults cannot really harm anyone.

Here is something from the Quran :

(lan ya-dhurru-kum illa addzan) which means (three different translators) :

i.    They can never harm you, beyond insulting you . . .

ii.   They will not harm you save a trifling hurt . . . 

iii.  They will do you no harm, barring a trifling annoyance  .  . .

I take it as meaning that "an insult cannot harm you". 

If someone hurts your feelings then that does not really harm you. 

If someone is just annoying, they cannot cause you any harm. 

Meaning you should not criminalise someone because you think he has insulted you, hurt your feelings or has annoyed you.  

Tak boleh lah itu macam.  

Please grow up.  

Wake up and live in the real world.

So when there are societies like ours, that still criminalise thought and speech, it is just balik pulau type kekampongan.  Such societies may not even understand what is the meaning of freedom. 

So long as we remain like this, then that is how long we will remain left behind.  Or rather, that is how long YOU will remain left behind.